+351 In the Goblet of Fire, when the maze is half-grown, you would've gone down there every evening to memorize at least three different routes to the finish. I mean how much easier would it be if Harry knew the exact way, amirite?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The maze moves, you nit.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

He still would've met Voldemort on the other end...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because I'm sure they would've let them do that anyways...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The maze changes every few minutes, so that really wouldn't have helped.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Nowhere does it say that in the book, to my knowledge.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They weren't allowed in the maze until it started. Not to mention the maze moved. And that would have just led him to Voldemort faster...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No no no no! The maze always changes there is no way of memorizing this maze, there is no way it could be 'so easy' also, the maze changes YOU. Have you read the book? Maybe seen the movie? Sorry for my rant I'm a die hard Harry Potter fan and hates it when people say things that are quite untrue.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Buddy, I've read the book 8 times, and the movie has no validity here. Where does it say it changes? The hedges don't change!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

^What is it with amiriters and their obsession with killing any joke?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

First off, the maze moved. Second, I don't think he even knew the maze was there. And you claim to love Harry Potter...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

First, as a disclaimer, I haven't read the book in a couple of years, nor have I seen the movie from start to finish in over a year, so forgive me if I'm wrong. But I'm sure it was (or at any rate could have been) magically grown or conjured. So there would be no opportunity to check it out as it was "half-grown". Good idea though.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Eh sorry but you are wrong in the book it does say that they had to grow it and so at some point it was half grown.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Guys, it's the staircases in Hogwarts that move. The maze interacts with people *in the movie* but the actual pathways in the book and movie remain static.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Finally, someone says something intelligent.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

They are not amiriters, but MLIAers in disguise

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Thank you! It's not the pathways that are the problem, it was what sort of creatures or jinxes he met along the way. Besides, even if he knew the pathways to the center he would have just gotten to Voldemort faster, it wouldnt havechanged anything.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That isn't my point. He got lost several times, and had to backtrack and stuff. He didn't know the cup was a portkey; he just wanted to be first, so knowing the exact route would've enabled him to win easily! But the obstacles are the problem, which is why 3 different routes would've turned up some good results.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Thank you for being unretarded.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I don't think anyone has said anything about the maze moving yet... -.-

by Anonymous 13 years ago

i may b wrong but im pretty sure they let it grow all the way first and then they cut the pathways

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's probably true.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Besides all the other good points the other *real* Potter fans have made- Harry's not a deliberate cheater. Anytime he got an edge it was because someone else gave it to him; doing that would have been him doing something deliberately underhanded. So, no way. This post is not in any way a joke, and the people who agreed are *not* Harry Potter fans.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Well, actually, I don't recall the judges ever saying they couldn't do that. Also, I never said "sneak," indicating he wasn't hiding his trips down there. But way to fail.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

no really people, i love harry potter & all but what's with "real harry potter fans"?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I don't see any fail, dumbass. That's obviously cheating; just because it's not spelled out doesn't mean it's not common sense. But way to fail yourself- at being condescending.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

How is it underhanded? If the judges advocate it, or tolerate it, how would it be underhanded? Oh, but of course, it wouldn't, so instead of admitting your fault, you simply retain your incorrect conclusion, and resort to insults. Typical.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

cedric would of lived

by Anonymous 13 years ago

True, he would have been able to navigate his way faster. It wouldnt have helped him know what he would meet along the way though. He would have needed to know where his 3 pathways connected as well.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

True, true.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

thought you were referring to the movie, sometimes they run together in my mind. But still, he had no way of knowing how the maze would look once it was fully grown. Harry didn't even recognize it as a maze until it was pointed out to him.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Uh... What? So what, he didn't know it was a maze immediately. Whoopdedoo. What do you mean "But still, he had no way of knowing how the maze would look once it was fully grown." I'm pretty sure that hedges grow straight up, and new hedges don't spring up overnight. That's why they were grown over a month in advance. The maze would be the exact same, barely grown, half grown, and full grown.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I'm saying that if he didn't recognize it as a maze then chances are he wouldn't have been able to tell how it was gonna look afterwards. And seeing as the hedges grew twenty feet tall, memorizing the maze would have required him to actually walk the entire thing multiple times. So even if they let him and he found a way to do it, it would be highly impractical.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Did you even read the book? He didn't recognize it was a hedge. Therefore, he's incapable of learning the route? How are those correlated!? I didn't recognize geometric distributions when I saw them. Does that mean I can't do them, after learning them? No it doesn't. That point doesn't make any sense. In case you don't understand hedges, they grow straight up. So, if they're 2 feet tall, 6 feet tall, or 100 feet tall, they all grow off the 2 feet base. If he knows the path when they're two feet, he knows the path when they're 20 feet. Understand? They grow straight up. Really? It took him maybe four hours the first time. That's being super generous, because the crowd didn't wanna see empty maze for 4 hours. Even so, if he went down there every evening for a month, he'll easily learn it. Accept it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

First of all, I'd like to point out that they were magical hedges, so the rules of traditional hedge growing may not apply. Hagrid also had to tend to the maze to trim the hedges and guide their growth, so they wouldn't necessarily look the same at two feet as they would at twenty feet. And since the hedges were magical, it probably wouldn't have been that difficult for an able witch or wizard to change their orientation prior to the beginning of the third task. Secondly, Harry didn't exactly have the time to go down there and learn the path (there was other stuff going on in the story). Thirdly, I didn't say he didn't recognize them as hedges, I said he didn't recognize it as a maze until it was pointed out. Fourthly, going with your example of geometric distributions, knowing that a sequence follows a geometric distribution won't necessarily help you derive the sequence's equation if you don't already know the general form for geometric distributions.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

And I'd like you to refresh your knowledge of the books. They aren't magical. They're regular hedges. Nowhere does it say they are magical. As Harry enters the maze, he wonders if they are, but doesn't know for sure. All right? They're normal. He actually did have time for that. He practiced loads and loads with Ron and Hermione. Tons. I guarantee about 10 hours could've been found to learn the maze. Guarantee it. So? He didn't know it was a maze. Does that mean he's incapable of learning the route? What does that have to do with anything? Seriously? What relevance does that hold? ... So because Krum, not Harry, recognized it was a maze, only Krum, not Fleur, Cedric, or Harry could learn it? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

@894835 (scrantoncity): Hmmm, allow ME to refresh YOUR memory of the book. The hedges grew to twenty feet tall in a matter of weeks. Non-magical hedge plants can't grow more than 5 feet in an entire year. I think it's safe to assume they were grown magically. And how do you figure that 10 hours would be enough to learn the maze if you said it took Harry 4 hours to do the maze during the competition? Don't forget, all three of them were studying for end of year exams at that point in the story. You keep referring to what I said about not recognizing the maze so, you know what, I'll let you have it. Maybe he would be able to do it under the right circumstances. Emphasis on "the right circumstances". But I still maintain that it wouldn't have helped him to go down there since it could've easily been changed prior to the task. I think Harry did exactly what he should have been doing, which was preparing for the obstacles.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Buddy, what you say doesn't follow the book! No, it took over a month. The hedges were already grown about 3 feet one month before the competition. But I relent. Sure. They're magical, fast-growing hedges. It didn't take four. That's an ultra-liberal viewpoint. And that was with the monsters and traps blocking him. Keep in mind he also strayed off his path to Save Cedric. Naturally, each time will be faster. He can get it down to maybe 1/4 of the original time, which is (realistically) about an hour. Did you read the book? Champions are exempted from end of year exams. Refresh your memory. Harry didn't study. Under the right circumstances? He had all the time in the world to prepare. Read the book. Literally (and this is why I dislike the fourth) one chapter is between the second and third tasks. I think. And there's all that time. NOTHING happens. He could've gone down every evening. You don't know what you're talking about. Easily changed...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I concede that Harry didn't need to study, but Ron and Hermione did. And I think we all know that without their help, it would've taken Harry significantly longer to learn the maze. Since you've read the book and are pretty familiar with the series, I'm sure you're aware that Harry was still in school during this time, meaning that he still had to go to classes and such. Not to mention the constant stress of knowing Voldemort was getting stronger every day. If I rememer correctly, when he was going through the maze, he ony got lost once and he still finished first. Plus, with all the obstacles he had to face, practicing spells was the most helpful bit of preparation he did. It wouldn't have mattered if he knew the path if the first obstacle knocked him out of contention. Don't forget, Harry was by far the youngest champion, so he was at an automatic disadvantage in that area. That's why I still maintain that Harry was doing exactly what he should ...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Not really... Harry is plenty capable of figuring out a route, especially because he can see over the walls. And, he could use his broom to get an aerial view. He'd have absolutely no trouble at all figuring out a way to the center. None. True, he was still busy, but during regular years he has time for Quidditch. He has enough time to learn it. Realistically it would take maybe 7 hours to learn it completely with the use of his broom. No. He had to double back several times, though Rowling doesn't make a big point of it. He also cut through to Cedric when Krum attacked Cedric. True. He definitely needed to do as he did. But knowing the maze would've Been really helpful. He could've done that while Hermione and Ron studied.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

And BTW, i'd just like to say ahead of time that even though it might not seem like it, there is one argument you could make that would make me completely concede that you're right. Whenever I debate, there's usually at least one point the other person could make that I wouldn't be able to argue with, I just want to see if you'll find it out for yourself.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I don't really need to, as simply refuting your arguments should be enough, but the broom is definitely a key factor.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Congratulations, you found it. Or at least part of it. If he used his broom, he could have made himself a map of the maze using the aerial view. It probably wouldn't have taken more than half an hour to map out, then he could just go through the map and find the quickest route. However, this is assuming the maze couldn't be magically changed prior to the task. But otherwise, I can't argue with that point. And although a lot of other people already said it, doing this may have helped him get through faster, finishing the maze earlier wouldn't have accomplished anything other than meeting Voldemort sooner.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Woo-hoo. Well, he didn't know that. He wanted to be first, so he tried his best. It's like you study really hard for a quiz, only to Learn that it was a free 100. Well, would you have known that earlier? No. So you should've studied, even if it didn't help you.

by Anonymous 13 years ago